Highest wicket-takers in each calendar year in Tests since 1877

Rangana Herath was the highest wicket-taker in 2012. In 2013 it was Stuart Broad. Herath did it again in 2014. As of 2015, Broad has the chance of topping the table. Bharath Seervi lists highest wicket-takers in each calendar year in Tests since 1877 with interesting trivia related to it.

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In the last calendar year (2014), Rangana Herath was the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 56 wickets from 9 Tests at 27.17. In 2013 it was Stuart Broad (62 wickets from 14 Tests at 25.80), and Herath had done it back again in 2012 (60 wickets from 10 Tests at 23.61).

Till September, Broad tops the 2015 chart with 44 wickets from 10 Tests — a clear 10 wickets ahead of Yasir Shah (34 from 5 Tests). Behind them are James Anderson and Mitchell Starc with 33 wickets each.

In the three months remaining this calendar year, Pakistan and England will 3 Tests against each other in UAE, where Broad, Yasir and Anderson will be competing for the spot of top wicket-taker of 2015. However, with a 10-wicket head-start, Broad has a greater chance. Yasir, on the other hand, beat the other two — for he bowls leg-spin, the opponents are England and the venue is UAE.

Apart from these three, some others can emerge at the top: Australia will play 6 Tests – 3 against New Zealand and 2 against West Indies — at home. Starc has 33 wickets, Josh Hazlewood 31 and Nathan Lyon 28; 5 matches at home (including 2 against a weak West Indies will surely boost their wickets). Elsewhere, Dhammika Prasad has 32 wickets and West Indies will tour Sri Lanka where they will play 2 Tests. However, Broad has the best chance. Let’s wait and watch if he does.

Before that, let’s see who the highest wicket-takers were in each calendar year since the Test cricket began in 1877.

–          There were no Tests played in 1878, 1891, 1900 and during two World Wars 1915-1919 and 1940-1945.

Team wise-distribution of top Test wicket-takers in a calendar year

–          England leads the table. However, in the last 35 years only two English bowlers were appear on the list highest wicket-takers in a year — Graeme Swann in 2010 and Broad in 2013. There was no English bowler at top from 1979 to 2009.

Being the highest Test wicket-taker of calendar year most number of times (twice or more)

–          If Broad becomes the highest wicket-taker this year he will join the above bowlers.

Being amongst top three Test wicket-takers in a calendar year most number of times

–          Tom Richardson was amongst top three wicket-takers of a calendar year 5 times but never ended up as the highest wicket-taker in any calendar year.

–          Derek Underwood, Anderson, Lance Gibbs and Wasim Akram have missed it four times.

Highest Test wicket-taker in two or more consecutive calendar years

Most Test wickets in a calendar year not to finish as the highest wicket-taker

–          Glenn McGrath and Harbhajan Singh have suffered this thrice.

–          1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005 are the years in which 3 bowlers took 60 or more Test wickets.

Biggest difference in wickets between the top two highest wicket-takers in a calendar year

Bonus trivia: Most Test wickets in career without ever being the highest wicket-taker of a calendar year

Shaun Pollock has the most wickets (421) in a Test career among bowlers who never ended as the highest wicket-taker in a calendar year. He was the second-highest wicket-taker in 1998 and the third-highest in 1999. Others with 400 wickets in their careers without achieving topping a calendar year are Harbhajan (417), Wasim (414), Anderson (413) and Curtly Ambrose (405).

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)